Roman Abramovich 'passed Boris Berezovsky apology to Vladimir Putin'

Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, was the
mysterious courier who passed on a letter of apology from Russian tycoon
Boris Berezovsky to President Vladimir Putin, it has been claimed.

The revelation, which was attributed to multiple sources by two respected news outlets in Moscow, will be an extraordinary twist if proved true as the two oligarchs clashed in a multi-billion pound case in the High Court last year.

Mr Berezovsky, 67, a self-exiled Kremlin critic, was found dead on the floor of his bathroom in Ascot, Berkshire, on March 23. He had a ligature around his neck while a piece of the same material was attached to a shower rail above.

Some of Mr Berezovsky's friends expressed doubt at the claim but the businessman's 23-year girlfriend, Katerina Sabirova, said in an interview this week that he was desperate to return to Moscow and that he did in fact send such a letter.

Sources have now told Vedomosti newspaper and the liberal TV Rain that it was Mr Abramovich was the person who brought the letter to Moscow.

Mr Abramovich's spokesman, John Mann, told The Daily Telegraph: "I know the answer but we will not be commenting because this is a personal matter."

Mr Berezovsky fled to the UK in 2001 (PA)

Mr Berezovsky, according to TV Rain, allegedly sent "several repentant letters", including one to Mr Abramovich and one to the Russian president. "Both the letter to Roman Abramovich and the one to Vladimir Putin contained apologies," an unidentified government source told the channel.

Vedomosti said that sources close to Mr Abramovich had confirmed he passed on the letter. It was not clear where the handover had taken place. The Chelsea owner spends a lot of his time in Britain.

Mr Abramovich won a case against Mr Berezovsky in the High Court in August after the latter had sought £3bn from him in damages in a dispute over stakes in the oil giant Sibneft and the Rusal aluminium producer.

Mr Berezovsky fled to the UK in 2001 after falling out with Mr Putin and was later convicted of fraud in absentia in Russia. After his death last month, friends said he had been deeply depressed by the loss of his suit against Mr Abramovich.

Sergei Ivanov, Mr Putin's chief of staff, confirmed that Mr Berezovsky's letter was passed by a "certain person" to the president by hand, but he refused to identify the courier or reveal the content of the message.